The mother of a Henry County elementary school student is seeking criminal charges against a paraprofessional she alleges struck her child for not having her laptop charged.
Britney Walker says her daughter Nevaeh, 10, is one of five students alleging they were hit on their backs Wednesday by the staffer at Dutchtown Elementary School at the end of a class held in the school’s media center. Nevaeh said the employee struck them with her hand.
The students had not charged their Chromebooks, which allegedly angered the paraprofessional, Walker said her daughter told her. The paraprofessional allegedly struck each child as they left the room, Walker said.
“I don’t see anywhere that I can go and assault, abuse or hurt any children and go home,” Walker said, adding that the strike left a large welt on the fourth-grader’s back. “If that was anybody else or if it was me, we would be sitting in the Henry County Jail.”
Henry County Schools did not comment on the specifics of the allegations, but said in a statement that it is investigating the matter and has put the accused employee on administrative leave.
“Human Resources is currently investigating a personnel matter at Dutchtown Elementary School following a report of a staff member having inappropriate interactions with students,” the statement said.
The employee was not identified.
The Henry County Police Department could not immediately be reached for comment. It was unclear if any of the other parents whose children were allegedly struck planned to press charges.
Sheryl Neely, Nevaeh’s grandmother, said her granddaughter said she had no reason to suspect the school employee would react the way she did. None of the children were acting out and much of the time they were just reading.
“We’re hurt because we send our children to school to learn, not to be abused,” she said.
Walker said Nevaeh did not return to school Thursday or Friday because the incident has been extremely upsetting. Walker hasn’t decided if Nevaeh will ever go back because the mom of three does not think the incident was well handled.
For instance, Walker said the school system never checked out her daughter’s back after she told them what happened. Walker alleged the district told her only school resource officers are permitted to undertake such an examination and that no SRO was at the school at that time of the incident.
“I don’t think they took it very seriously,” she said.
Walker also has a son in the ninth grade in Henry Schools and a daughter who is a senior who will graduate early in January. That makes uprooting Nevaeh more difficult because she doesn’t want it to impact her other children.
“I’m in a tough position because this has been traumatizing for her and I want to protect her mental health,” Walker said. “But I have lost trust in Henry County.”
